Dec. 4 (UPI) — The New York Times filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Department of Defense for violating the constitutional rights of journalists by adding restrictions on reporting about the military.
The suit accuses the Pentagon and Secretary Pete Hegseth of violating the First Amendment by creating the new restrictions on reporting. They “seek to restrict journalists’ ability to do what journalists have always done — ask questions of government employees and gather information to report stories that take the public beyond official pronouncements,” the filing said.
The rules went into effect in October. They required reporters to sign a 21-page form that would restrict their activities, including requests for story tips and asking questions of Pentagon sources. Reporters who don’t comply lose press passes.
Most news organizations with press credentials chose to give up those passes rather than sign the Pentagon’s pledge.
The suit seeks a court order stopping the enforcement of the new rules and a declaration stating that the Pentagon’s new policy targeting “protected newsgathering and speech and all actions implementing those provisions are unlawful and unconstitutional.” It also seeks reinstatement of credentials for Times and other reporters.
The Times’ Pentagon reporter Julian E. Barnes is listed as a plaintiff along with The New York Times company.
“We are aware of The New York Times lawsuit and look forward to addressing these arguments in court,” said Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell.
“The Policy thereby vests Department officials with unbridled discretion to suspend and/or revoke reporters’ access to the Pentagon for engaging in lawful newsgathering or for reporting any information not approved by Department officials — regardless of whether such newsgathering occurs on or off Pentagon grounds, and regardless of whether the information at issue is classified or unclassified,” the suit said. “The Policy is ‘unconstitutional, because without standards governing the exercise of discretion,’ the Department ‘may decide who may’ access the Pentagon and ‘who may not based upon the content of the speech or the viewpoint of the speaker.'”
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press said it supports the lawsuit.
“The Pentagon’s press access policy is unlawful because it gives government officials unchecked power over who gets a credential and who doesn’t, something the First Amendment prohibits,” Gabe Rottman, vice president of policy at the RCFP, said in a statement. “The public needs independent journalism and the reporters who deliver it back in the Pentagon at a time of heightened scrutiny of the Department’s actions.
“We look forward to lending our voice in support of this suit.”
Hegseth has come under increased scrutiny in the past few weeks since the Washington Post reported that he gave the orders to kill all 11 crew members by carrying out a second strike on an alleged drug-smuggling vessel on Sept. 2. The U.S. military has struck 21 boats and killed 83 people alleged to be smuggling drugs to the United States.
On Thursday, Adm. Mitch Bradley is scheduled to brief Congress on the orders for the second strike. The White House has blamed Bradley for the orders instead of Hegseth.
On Tuesday, the family of a Colombian fisherman filed a formal complaint against the United States with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights over a military strike on his boat. Alejandro Carranza was killed Sept. 15 off the coast of Colombia.
On Wednesday, the Defense Department’s inspector general sent a report to Congress alleging that Hegseth has repeatedly used unsecured phones and messaging systems to discuss classified information, potentially putting U.S. troops in danger.